Wooden cable reels picked up, bought and sold across Philly and South Jersey

The reel catalogue

Every empty reel that turns up on a Delaware Valley job site fits one of ten entries. Each entry is a ruled row with the same columns a counter catalogue at an electrical supply house would give you: the build, the usual flange diameter, the traverse (the inside width between the flanges), the arbor hole and a verdict. The verdict is the part people actually need. A sound nailed wood reel can be sold. A cracked one can still be recycled. A steel reel, or a wooden one stencilled with a cable maker's name, is a returnable reel that belongs to its maker and has to go back, so its row says so instead of offering a price.

Open any entry for an exploded drawing of that reel, the sizes it comes in and what decides whether it is worth collecting. The full catalogue also explains the two things that move a reel from one row to another: the flange material and who owns it.

Find your size

Reel makers describe a reel by three numbers, flange by traverse by drum, in inches. That is the order used in the reel tables Okonite and other cable makers publish under NEMA WC 26, the North American packaging standard for wire and cable. A 42 x 28 x 21 reel has a 42-inch flange, 28 inches of winding space between the flanges and a 21-inch drum. Measure the flange across its widest point, the traverse inside the flanges, and the arbor hole through the centre. Those three readings, plus a count, are enough for a quote.

Each size page lists published examples of that class with their source, so you can match your reel against a real catalogue entry rather than a guess. The size tables run from small plywood spools you can carry in one hand to 96-inch reels that need a forklift rated for the weight.

Returnable or one-way

Most wooden reels in this market are one-way reels: the cable maker ships them, the buyer owns the empty, and nobody comes back for it. Southwire's reel packaging page, for example, says its wooden reels are non-returnable and carry no deposit, while its steel reels are returnable and charged for. A returnable reel usually announces itself. Look for a steel flange, a maker's name or "RETURNABLE" stencilled on the flange face, a deposit tag stapled near the arbor hole, or a serial number painted on. Those reels go back to the maker for credit, and we route them there rather than buy them.

If you are not sure which you have, the guide to returnable and one-way reels walks through the markings and lists what to photograph.

How a pickup works

1. Identify the reel. Find its row in the catalogue, or measure the flange, traverse and arbor hole.
2. Count it. A rough count by size is fine: "about forty 42-inch, six 60-inch".
3. Send the request. Use the form on any page, or email the list with a photo of a flange face.
4. Agree the pickup. We reply about which reels sell, which are recycling only and which are returnable, and agree a day and a loading plan.

Large reels need a forklift on site; small ones need a dry place by the kerb. The pickup page covers loading, access and what happens to reels nobody can use again.

Buying empty reels

Sound one-way reels go back into use. Makers and furniture builders want a clean 24- to 36-inch flange for a table. Growers want small spools for hose and fencing wire. Contractors who wind their own cable lengths want reels with straight flanges, an undamaged arbor hole and every stave in place. Tell us the size, how many and what the reel is for, and we say what is in hand or when the next suitable reels are likely to come in. Stock changes with every pickup, so nothing is listed as a fixed inventory.

Start with buying empty reels, or go straight to spools for tables or reels for re-spooling.

Pickup across the metro

The catalogue covers both banks of the Delaware. On the Pennsylvania side that is Philadelphia and the four collar counties, Bucks, Montgomery, Chester and Delaware. On the New Jersey side it is Camden, Gloucester and Burlington counties. Six road bridges tie the two banks together, from the Burlington-Bristol and Tacony-Palmyra in the north to the Commodore Barry at Chester, and a reel truck plans its route around them.

Each county page lists its towns, ZIP codes and the roads a truck uses to get there.

Where reels come from here

Empty reels collect wherever wire is pulled. In this market that means electrical contractors on commercial fit-outs, cable replacement and substation work across PECO's territory, fibre builds funded by Pennsylvania's broadband programme, wire and cable distributors in Montgomery County, data-centre construction on the former steel works in Falls Township, logistics building on the old refinery land in South Philadelphia, and the marine terminals along the river. Each source produces a different mix of reels, and the industries pages say what each one tends to leave behind.

Guides and questions

• What is a wooden spool worth? Why most value sits in condition and size, not age.
• How to measure a cable reel Flange, traverse, drum and arbor hole, with a drawing.
• Broken reels Split flanges, missing staves and rot still have somewhere to go.
• Identify your reel Read the build, the stencil and the tags.
• Questions about empty reels The short answers people ask for first.

Send your reel list

Tell us whether you want to sell, recycle or buy, the reel type, a rough flange size, the count and the ZIP code. That is enough to start.